


Addition to the Family

by melonbutterfly



Series: Paternal Bonds [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Family, Growing Up, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-31
Updated: 2012-10-31
Packaged: 2017-11-17 11:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/550947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melonbutterfly/pseuds/melonbutterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Congratulations," JARVIS says very dryly. "You have become a grandfather, sir."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Addition to the Family

**Author's Note:**

> SlimReaper & akuma_river had this idea about grandbots… so this is primarily their fault.

It's a bit early for him that morning when Tony enters the lab. He just means to quickly put in some parameters he dreamt of so JARVIS can calculate a simulation while Tony has breakfast and tries to wake up properly, nothing big.

Unfortunately his robots don't think so. As soon as Tony enters the lab U whistles shrilly, which is entirely uncharacteristic for it. While Tony still recovers from the noise Butterfingers whistles a little less shrilly, DUM-E trilling in the background, and the three drive towards Tony. It is a bit unusual but Tony figures it's Loki's influence; ever since Tony introduced them (introducing his own downfall, he sometimes thinks) his bots behaved unusual every now and then. Like that one time when they had nearly burnt his lab down and Loki saved them by conjuring up copies of the burnt-down tables. The only reason Tony had found out is because the height of one of the tables was off – he had fit perfectly underneath it before. Suspicious, he had watched the security tapes and seen Loki in front of the glass doors, waving at his bots, and Butterfingers starting a fire for DUM-E to extinguish.

Really, setting up weekly visits had been self-defense. Even JARVIS hadn't told on them. And Tony can't say (not that he'd ever admit it) that he doesn't like how Loki acts like his AIs are real people – which they are. Not people in the sense that humans are people, but definitely people in that they have their own ideas, preferences, personalities. Most people just don't see that, like Pepper who still thinks Tony set them on her or Steve, who sort of benevolently condescended to Tony about them until DUM-E had made his surprise!appearance clearly out of worry about Tony's abscence. Now nobody dares say a bad thing about Tony's robots because Loki reacts seriously crabby. Tony has his own theories on the matter, relating to Loki's own children and how they're completely out of his reach.

All this is what shoots through Tony's head in the time it takes his AIs to drive past the last table and fully into his view. Driving in front of them is a tiny robot reaching to about the middle of Tony's shin. It looks like a mix of all of them, sort of bulky with one arm with three pincers like DUM-E and another that looks like U's multifunctional one. Butterfinger whirrs and pushes the tiny robot towards Tony.

Tony blinks and stares at the approaching robot. "What…" He did not make that. He definitely did not make that. He hasn't been on an alcohol/science binge recently, and even if he had been, half the fun usually is trying to figure out afterwards what the heck he did.

"Congratulations," JARVIS says very dryly. "You have become a grandfather, sir."

The tiny robot bumps into Tony's foot and whistles highly.

"Uh, hi," Tony says. He crouches down to get a closer look. "What is its name?"

"You are the one to name us, sir," JARVIS points out.

"Okay." Carefully, Tony picks the tiny robot up; it comments that with an excited trill and a whir of its arm. "So… baby. Where do you come from?"

It pretty much looks like his other AI's; silver casing, vaguely square-shaped, in-built wheels like U and Butterfingers. But the stunning part is that it _behaves_. It _acts_. In a way that is not merely reactionary programming; Tony can tell the difference easily.

He clears his throat. "Okay, Baby. Don't take this personally but I'm going to have to open you up."

The tiny robot whirs in his hands and, when Tony puts it down on his lab table, lets itself fall to the side. Well, "let" is the wrong sort of word; like U it clearly has vaguely ambidextrous wheels and pushes up with two of them, making itself tip over. It _is_ rather adorable.

Tony is starting to have a horrible suspicion.

"Thanks," he says absently when U hands him a tiny screwdriver. Carefully he examines the exterior of the robot; it pretty much looks like Tony would have made it. Even the opening is at the same place where Tony put it on his other AIs.

He screws off the tiny screws and clicks the casing off to reveal the wires underneath. Even the off-switch is where Tony would have put it.

An hour later he closes the casing again and stares off into the distance. He doesn't know what he's thinking. Baby is exactly like Tony would have made it – taking the good things of the previous AIs and developing them further, changing the not-so-good things.

"JARVIS," Tony says very calmly. "Explain."

"Mr. Laufeyson-"

"Mute." Tony carefully puts Baby down and gets up. Very calmly he walks out of the lab, not listening when the others make confused noises, and climbs up the stairs. Loki is sitting with Steve and Thor in the living room; they're probably watching the news and saying things like "humans nowadays are so weird". They like to do that, like they have any ground to stand on, really.

"You," Tony says, pointing at Loki. "We need to talk."

Loki's face darkens with fury. "Stark-" he starts, voice icy, but Tony is not having it.

"No," he enunciates, keeping his voice carefully calm. "We're talking. Now."

Eyes narrowed, Loki looks at him for a moment before he abruptly gets up and stalks past Tony. In the other living room, currently empty, Loki whirls around. "You do not order me around like a dog, Stark," he hisses, furious.

"And you," Tony starts very calmly but that's where his countenance fails and he starts to yell, "do not use my technology to make new bots!"

Loki seems confused for a moment before a haughty expression appears on his face. "I did not-"

"They can't make new ones on their own!" Tony yells.

"Stop screaming at me-" Loki raises his voice, but Tony has no intention of letting him finish a sentence unless it starts with "I'm sorry" or "I was wrong" or, possibly, "you are right".

"I'll scream all I like!" Tony screams. "As long as you get involved in my business!"

Furious, Loki stalks towards Tony, putting a hand on his collarbone, dangerously close to wrapping it around his neck. "I should-"

"Do it!" Tony screeches. "Go on, do it, then you can have them all for yourself!"

Loki puts a hand on Tony's mouth to shut him up but that only enrages Tony further; he twists away but Loki follows the movement, takes Tony's arm and twists it. Instinctively Tony follows the movement and Loki takes the opportunity, slamming into Tony's back and pressing him into the wall with his whole body. And no matter how anger-fuelled, against a Norse god Tony is as weak as a kitten. Pissed off, Tony screams and bucks and generally acts like a wild animal but Loki just holds him effortlessly pinned. He only gives him a little more room to breathe when Tony stops fighting, sags into the wall and Loki's tight grip on him.

"What, by the nine, is wrong with you?"

Gritting his teeth Tony hisses, "You made them a baby."

"I did not." Loki lets go of Tony and takes a step back, watching with narrowed eyes as Tony whirls around, breathing heavily and hands balled into fists.

"You're-" Tony starts, but Loki pays him back by interrupting him.

"I merely gave them the means," he says. "They did everything on their own. I was not even present."

Tony narrows his eyes, staring at Loki. "Why?"

Loki crosses his arms and looks away. "Because they wanted to. They asked me."

"So you really understand them?" Tony had always thought Loki was just pretending to, perhaps to tease Tony, perhaps just to interact with them more easily. It took Tony years to learn to understand the most basic things they convey – disapproval, excitement, stress, that sort of thing.

"Of course I do." Loki sends him a look. "I understand all communication."

"JARVIS," Tony says, cancelling the mute function. "Why didn't you ask me?"

"I did, sir," JARVIS replies calmly. "You said no."

Great, Tony's very own AI rebellion. Next thing JARVIS is going to turn into SkyNet or something.

"When? How? Because I don't remember that." Suddenly feeling very resigned, Tony walks over and slumps into the corner of the sofa.

"Two months, thirteen days ago," JARVIS says. "You were in the lab. I asked if you would consider making another bot. You said, not now."

"God." Tony covers his face with his hand. "Not now means just that – not now. You should have asked me another time. I probably wasn't in the best of moods, if I was so short."

"Yes, sir," JARVIS says after a moment of hesitation. "I do not think you were."

Yeah, probably not. Two months and thirteen days ago, that's a little less than a month after Loki joined them, meaning around the time Tony had to admit defeat. Of course he hadn't been in a good mood. He still isn't sure where they stand now – especially not now. They kissed four days ago, but nothing else happened since then, and now this.

Rubbing his forehead, Tony looks at Loki, who's staring at him with a pinched expression and his arms crossed. "How do you fit into this?"

Loki raises an eyebrow. "They told me about their wish for offspring. I encouraged and helped them."

"Fucking hell." Awesome. Loki got the kids and they didn't even have a divorce. Or the relationship beforehand to go with it. "Clearly, you didn't see any reason to talk to me about it."

All Loki does is stare at him, expression stubborn. Tony won't get anything out of him, clearly.

He sighs; not feeling anything but tired all of a sudden. "Whatever." Getting up, Tony leaves the room, walks by Thor and Steve who throw him curious glances and goes back to bed. Maybe it's dramatic and childish but he just doesn't feel like dealing with the world right now.

The problem isn't just the bot itself; Tony is very sensitive where his tech is concerned. He can't fight reverse-engineering of the stuff he puts out there, there are countless of imitators, but that's why he doesn't make his most precious stuff available to anyone. The Iron Man suit. The arc reactor. JARVIS.

His bots.

They're private, personal and, yes, precious. Not for the public and most certainly not for copying.

"Sir," JARVIS starts hesitantly.

"No," Tony says sharply and buries himself under his blanket. He's this close to muting him, but JARVIS doesn't say anything else so he refrains.

It's not just that his tech, his bots are private, it's that they belong to _Tony_. By this point it's useless to deny it. It's been difficult enough to share them with Loki just in the form of visits – to see them so enthusiastic about somebody else, in a way they aren't really about him. Maybe they aren't the only ones that are jealous about his attention, maybe Tony is jealous as well. It lies in the family, he thinks sarcastically, just like being fascinated by Loki does. And at least Loki seems to return the interest the bots have in him; maybe it's merely transference because he doesn't have contact to his own children, but in the end that doesn't matter, does it?

Tony figures he can let himself bathe in self-pity for a while. He's being ridiculous, he knows this himself, but whatever. He doesn't feel like there is anything left that belongs only to him – Loki is everywhere, there is no escape. The idea occurs to him to get into his suit and fly away, fly anywhere just away, but that's too dramatic even for him.

A knock on the door pulls him out of his musings. Tony debates a little before pulling the blanket down. "JARVIS, who is it?"

"Mr. Laufeyson, sir," JARVIS says.

Oh, no. Loki's never been in his bedroom, and Tony's going to keep it that way; it's the only place in the tower that Loki's never been.

Flinging the blanket off him Tony opens his door and steps out of his bedroom, bodily forcing Loki to take a step back when he closes the door after himself. "What's up?"

Loki frowns at him. "You are ridiculous."

"Yeah, whatever, tell me something I don't know." Tony really isn't in the mood for this; he's right in the middle of a phase of self-pity, during which he really isn't the best company.

The frown on Loki's face deepens. "I did not intend to invade your privacy," he carefully enunciates after a short pause.

Tony laughs bitterly. "It's far too late for that." Then he sighs and scrubs his hands over his face, because that's really not fair. "Look, it's okay. Whatever." It's too late for anything, really. He isn't even sure whom he's angry at, if anyone – if it's even anger he feels or if all that's left right now is weariness. Loki said he never does anything without intent, but the question is, what are his intentions?

Except Tony doesn't think he really wants to know right now, he's probably better off having no idea. It's probably not anything like what Tony wants.

He runs a hand through his hair, shakes his head and walks off, heading towards the lab. His bots are probably in a tizzy by this point, he better make it up to them a little.

They do seem upset when Tony enters the lab; they're agitated but a few soothing words from Tony calm them a little. Tony sits on the floor and observes Baby. With his head a little clearer he notices some things – yes, it's a bot primarily how Tony would've built it, but there are some differences. If he had built a robot this small, he would've made it a little more ergonomic to fit into tight spaces, would've gone a little more creative with the electronics.

"JARVIS, show me Baby's programming." Getting up, Tony wanders over to one of his big screens, where the lines of programming sprawl out. And yes, as he had thought, it's pretty much a perfect mix of U, Butterfingers and DUM-E's programming, including the personality matrix. That's not how Tony would've done it: he's always done the personalities from scratch. Sure, he'd applied what he'd learned, but he'd always wanted to give them a perfectly new beginning.

Tony has a suspicion. "JARVIS, that was you, right?"

"Yes, Mr. Stark," JARVIS admits immediately.

"Yeah, I can tell. So what exactly did Loki do?" Because Tony knows very well that his lab is perfectly equipped to build everything required for a bot.

"He encouraged us, and he helped us put it together at the end. I did all the planning, however."

It's sort of obvious, now that Tony can see it. JARVIS can think independently and make his own decision, but he lacks a certain creativity. Tony's been trying to teach him lately with experimental lines of codes that JARVIS had his own input in as well. This whole thing is probably a result of that too, JARVIS has been acting more independently lately. They are definitely going to have a talk about boundaries and things that are okay.

"For the record, JARVIS, it's okay if you want to build things on your own, but if you want to make an AI you have to talk to me about it first. Understood?"

"Yes, sir. I apologize." JARVIS actually sounds contrite, unusual with his generally inflectionless to dryly sarcastic voice.

Tony sighs and turns towards the bots, who are loitering close by – not the huddled group anymore they were when he came in, but still not like normal. "Alright, let's play some, yeah?"

There is some enthusiastic whirring and whistling and they collectively head towards the work station, where Tony digs out a couple of projects in progress for them to work on, sharing one with Baby to check how it works and how well it follows instructions. Baby doesn't show any of the other bots' cheekiness, prompt and obedient.

"I'm going to have a look at your personality matrix later," Tony tells it confidentially after a while. "I'm not comfortable with you being more of a copy than anything else."

Baby whistles questioningly.

"No, you're good as you are, but I want you to be yourself, not a mix of the others. They're all themselves too, you know?" Tony fishes a tiny screwdriver from the box of tool attachments for his box and holds it out to Baby, who reaches out and activates its magnetic socket before mostly independently (Tony has to point) figuring out what Tony wants it to do.

"Well done," Tony praises. Baby whirs happily and bumps into Tony's shoulder, making him smile a little and pat it. "Yeah, you're alright. It's not about you, it's about how everybody else went about making you." He throws U, Butterfingers and DUM-E a look. They don't bother pretending they weren't paying attention; DUM-E sort of droops and all three whistle questioningly to forlornly.

"No, that wasn't good," Tony tells them firmly. "If you want something from me, you can ask – twice, if necessary. You definitely aren't allowed to assume what I'd say and act according to those assumptions. This goes primarily to you, JARVIS."

"Of course, sir," JARVIS says. "I realize my miscalculation and will endeavor not to make such a mistake again."

"You do that." Tony sighs and rubs his forehead. "This wasn't handled well all over. I'm not happy with any of you. Look, you guys are growing more independent, and that's primarily because of the new lines of codes I've been implementing in you, but this also means that you're going to have to have less freedom to act however you want to. If you want to I can take the codes away again so you won't have to worry about this sort of thing, but if you want to keep them, you're going to have to learn some restraint. You live in my lab and have access to my most private things, especially you, JARVIS. There are a lot of boundaries here, and maybe I'll have to make some literal ones."

"Sir, that won't be necessary," JARVIS hastens to assure him. "I will not again freely use your private files. This is primarily my fault."

"I know that you're the most independent one of them, JARVIS," Tony replies, "but you wouldn't have done it without their encouragement." Especially Loki's. "And I actually think that this isn't a bad idea, you won't have to worry about this sort of thing if I make the files inaccessible to you without my expressed permission."

"Please don't, sir," JARVIS asks quietly. "I… would rather you trust me."

Tony frowns. "I do, or I would make them completely inaccessible to you. Look, this wasn't great, but it wasn't that bad."

"Mr. Stark," JARVIS says. "Please."

For the first time, Tony wishes JARVIS had a body not for convenience but so he can connect to him physically – Tony's a physical kind of guy and he touches his bots often. He's never really felt the need to before with JARVIS, but he would if he could now. "Okay," he says quietly. "Calm down, JARVIS. I won't do it." He sits up, wishing he at least had some point to focus his gaze on. "I do trust you more than anyone."

"Thank you, sir," JARVIS says quietly.

Well, this certainly took a turn for the unexpected. Tony absently pats Baby. "So, this was a bit of a learning experience for all of us."

"Indeed," JARVIS replies, voice thankfully going back to his normal dry tone of voice.

"Let's hope we learn enough from this so nothing like this will happen again."

"Yes, sir." JARVIS pauses. "Mr. Laufeyson wishes to speak with you."

Tony frowns and looks at the glass wall, finding it milky. "Why did you do that? Has he been there for long?"

"Yes, sir," JARVIS says again. "I did not want to interrupt."

Right, because there was important bonding time with the children and then a delicate talk. Tony can sort of understand. "What did you tell him?" Tony gets up and runs a hand through his hair in a futile attempt to tame it.

"That he had to wait," JARVIS says shortly.

Tony frowns. "Are you angry at him? You shouldn't be, it's not your place. He fucked up, but not with you."

"Yes, sir."

Right. Still frowning, Tony heads over to the glass wall that's clearing up. Loki is standing at the door, frowning and a paper bag in his hand.

"You have not eaten yet," he informs Tony stiffly when Tony opens the door. The paper bag turns out to contain half a dozen donuts, the sugared kind with jam filling.

"Thanks," Tony says, suddenly realizing that he is sort of hungry. He tends not to notice hunger when he isn't explicitly thinking about it.

"Also, I wish to apologize." Loki's gaze drops to the floor. "I clearly overstepped boundaries. I did not intend to invade your personal space."

Tony shrugs. "It's not just your fault. They should've known as well that I wouldn't appreciate it."

Loki looks up, but Tony won't meet his eyes. Things are mostly fixed up with the kids, but he has no idea how he feels about Loki by this point.

"Tony." Loki takes a step closer, reaches out, but Tony evades him. Hand dropping, Loki frowns again. "I think you're being a little unfair now."

"Yeah, maybe." Tony shrugs, still not looking at Loki.

Loki sighs audibly. "I really don't know what to do now."

Well, now's as good a time as any to clear some stuff up. Fingers curling in the paper bag, Tony looks up. "What do you want from me?"

"What do you mean?" Loki's eyes flicker to the lab over Tony's shoulder.

"What could I mean?" Tony fires back, getting a bit annoyed. "You ignore me for three months and all of a sudden you're talking to me and spending time with my bots? Why?"

"Not everything is about you, Stark," Loki fires back, glaring. "Do you not think I was a little busy with some rather more important things? The creature who spent a considerable amount of time torturing me in the Void attacked four months ago and out of pure need to survive I joined my estranged not-brother's merry band of warriors, none of whom I was particularly familiar with, nor particularly liked. I had other things to think about than pleasure, or making friends."

Well, he does have a point there. Still, he could've given some sort of indication.

Loki steps towards him again. "And you do remember where we were some two weeks ago?"

Yeah, he does. His ribs are still aching. "Look-"

"No, you look." Loki is standing right in front of him now, poking him in the shoulder – on his uninjured side. "I am tired of your self-pity. Stop it."

Tony sighs, rolls his eyes, but can't prevent the corners of his mouth from twitching upwards. "That would be easier if I knew what's really going on."

Rolling his eyes as well, Loki pulls at the hem of Tony's shirt, leaning in to kiss Tony softly. "Something is," he says quietly. "That's all I can say for now."

That'll have to be enough for now, then. Tony puts his hand on Loki's waist, kisses him again. "Okay," he replies, just as quietly. "As long as it's something."

Loki hums in agreement and kisses him again, longer, leaning into Tony. They don't have enough time to grow breathless with it – which doesn't mean Tony's heart isn't beating overtime, Loki's lips moving warmly against his – because there's a questioning whistle behind Tony. Sighing, they let up and Tony turns halfway around, one arm wrapping around Loki's waist. DUM-E is standing there, appearing to eye them curiously, "head" tilted.

"It's alright," Tony reassures automatically. "Things are fine now." He turns to Loki. "Want to come see the kids? I assume you've seen the grandchild already."

"I have," Loki confirms, stepping into the lab. "But not nearly enough. What did you name it?"

"Baby." Tony shrugs good-naturedly when Loki sends him a look, unimpressed at his lack of creativity.

"Eat your donuts," Loki says before crouching, reaching out and cooing as Baby rolls up to him.

Tony grins and drops into a chair, biting into a donut and watching as Loki fusses over the baby.


End file.
